Following consultation the treaty will be subject to a National Interest Analysis (NIA) and then normal parliamentary process before a decision is taken to ratify it, says Alastair Stewart, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (formerly the MED).

The consultation process has yet to begin and at the time of going to print details on the timetable were not available.

ACTA's recent rejection by the European Parliament has been followed by publication of a report by an all-party committee of Australia's Parliament; this advises against ratifying the treaty, at least until the meaning of terms such as "intellectual property" and "piracy" have been clarified and ACTA's potential impact on the economy better assessed.

"Any decision by the [NZ] government about ratification would naturally take into consideration developments in other ACTA signatory countries," says Stewart.

"It is prudent," the Australian Federal Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has recommended, "that ACTA not be ratified by Australia until this committee has received and considered the assessment of the economic and social benefits and costs of the agreement, the Australian government has issued the notice of clarification in relation to the terms of the treaty as recommended in this report and the ALRC [Australian Law Reform Commission] has reported on its inquiry into Copyright and the Digital Economy."